'My view now is that it could have been prevented' : Baroness O'Loan on Omagh bombing 20 years on
Ex Police Ombudsman now wants public inquiry into atrocity but Chief Constable says she risked re-traumatising families
Last updated 15th Aug 2018
A former policing watchdog who investigated the Omagh bombing has said it could have been prevented.
Baroness Nuala O'Loan called for a public inquiry into the worst single atrocity of the Northern Ireland conflict and seriously questioned the handling of security force intelligence.
Later on Wednesday, relatives will mark 20 years since the August 1998 dissident republican blast which killed 29, including a woman pregnant with twins.
Baroness O'Loan said: “My view now is that it could have been prevented.''
She said the various intelligence services could have worked in a more cohesive way.
On August 4 1998, 11 days before the bombing, the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) received an anonymous telephone call warning that there would be an “unspecified'' terrorist attack on police in Omagh on August 15 1998.
The force's Special Branch, which handled intelligence from agents, took only limited action on the information and a threat warning was not sent to the sub-divisional commander in Omagh, an investigation by Baroness O'Loan when she was police ombudsman found.
A RUC review concluded in 2000 that the information should have been passed to the commander.
Baroness O'Loan told the BBC: “If that had been conveyed to the sub-divisional commander in Omagh he could have just set checkpoints up around the town and the effect of that could have been to drive the bombers to abandon their bomb.''
She said the intelligence services were tracking the movements of the car containing the bomb from the Republic.
“What we do need now is an inquiry, a full public inquiry to find out why this happened and how it could have been prevented,” she said.
"I am not yet convinced that the way in which we handle intelligence across the UK is adequate to secure maximum information."
Meanwhile, In response to Baroness O'Loan's claim that the bombing could have been prevented, PSNI Chief Constable George Hamilton said she risked re-traumatising the families.
“I find it bizarre that, 20 years on, assertions like this based on no new information is being brought in to the public debate," he said.